The Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation, a Guinness record-holder for being the world’s largest fleet owner, and yet to be bifurcated, is reeling under the impact of the recent hike in price of high speed diesel (HSD) to the tune of Rs. 3.50 per litre.
For an organisation that has approximately 23,000 buses and consumes about 15 lakh litres of HSD a day, an extra rupee spent on diesel means an additional burden of Rs.15 lakh in operating costs. The buses ferry one crore passengers over 80 lakh kilometres a day. But, the current increase in HSD price means that APSRTC with accumulated losses to an extent of Rs. 4,800 crore will shell out Rs. 50 lakh more a day just for fuel.
An interesting point that is often raised by APSRTC senior officials is the fact that the pure cost of HSD includes taxes of about 31 per cent in the form of AP General Sales Tax and Value-Added Tax too, whereas the Indian Railways enjoys the advantage of paying only 4 per cent in the form of taxes per litre of HSD of consumed.
The annual turnover of APSRTC is Rs. 7,800 crore but its expenditure includes 42 per cent towards staff salaries and 40 per cent for fuel and lubricants. The remaining costs are for tyres, tubes, flaps and other consumables.
When approached, senior officials said the latest hike spoilt the record of APSRTC which boasted of lowest operational cost among all State Road Transport Undertakings in the country with figures of Rs. 25 per bus per km.
In 2011-12, the operational cost was just Rs. 19 per bus per km. The occupancy rate of the corporation was 82 per cent while free bus passes were given to 12 per cent of passengers. But, officials were not happy with the rate.
